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Monday, May 29, 2017

Highlights: The Shape of Sand

Interpreting depositional
setting is a fundamental task of many sedimentary geologists. Existing analytical
techniques using sediment properties to characterize depositional setting and
related mechanism of transport can produce results with varying accuracy or can
be cost prohibitive. Here, Eamer and co-workers describe a new method that uses freely available software and
an optical microscope to differentiate coastal sands transported by eolian and
littoral processes. The method is based on the principle of eolian sand
sorting, in which wind preferentially transports rounded grains to angular grains.
The software was used to classify grain solidity. Results from application of
this method are promising, with correct identification of the transport
mechanism of 76% of nearly 6000 tested sand grains. Determining the
depositional setting of sand grains provides important information for
paleoenvironmental reconstruction, stratigraphic interpretation, and applied
sciences (e.g., hydrogeology).